Download and Launch Fortigate Virtual Machine in VMWare WorkStation
This post is to summarize the steps to download and install Fortigate Firewall VM into your VMware workstation for your lab testing.
Related Post:
Diagram
Download VM
Please download VM start with FGT and not start with FOS. FOS-VMs are meant to work only in closed environments without Internet access. FOS-VMs license validation process is exclusively taken care of by the FortiMeter module of FortiManager, not by FortiGuard. Upon instantiation, a FOS-VM is provided with a permanent Serial Number. The FOS-VM license status is “Valid”, and is set with a “FortiMeter grace period” value of 1 hour. (From: FOS-VM License management, validation, and troubleshooting)
Launch VM into VMWare Workstation
Unzip download zip file: e.g. FGT_VM64-v7.0.3-build0237-FORTINET.out.ovf.zipYou will get 2 VMDK disk files and 6 different OVF files. To import it into your VMWare Workstation, just double click one of ovf file then the import wizard will show up.
Component | Description |
---|---|
fortios.vmdk | FortiGate-VM system hard disk in VMDK format. |
datadrive.vmdk | FortiGate-VM log disk in VMDK format. |
Open Virtualization Format (OVF) template files | |
FortiGate-VM64.ovf | OVF template based on Intel e1000 NIC driver. |
FortiGate-VM64.hw04.ovf | OVF template file for older (v3.5) VMware ESX server. This file will be deprecated in future releases. |
FortiGate-VMxx.hw07_vmxnet2.ovf | OVF template file for VMware vmxnet2 driver. |
FortiGate-VMxx.hw07_vmxnet3.ovf | OVF template file for VMware vmxnet3 driver. |
FortiGate-VM64.hw13.ovf | OVF template file for VMware ESXi 6.5 and later versions. |
OVF template file for VMware ESXi 6.7 and later versions. | |
FortiGate-VM64.vapp.ovf | OVF template file for VMware vSphere, vCenter, and vCloud. |
Configuration Port 1 (Mgmt) Interface
After VM complete loaded, it might need to reboot it once then you will be prompted to login:Default username : admin

config system interface
edit ?
show system interface ?
config system interface
edit port1
set mode static
set ip 192.168.2.18 255.255.255.0
append allowaccess http
end
- Show system interface
- Get system status
config router static
edit 1
set device port1
set gateway 192.168.2.1
end
Config Fortigate WAN, LAN & DMZ Interfaces

LAN and DMZ
Configure Firewall Rule
Basic rule is from LAN to WAN for Internet traffic.VPN
Videos
References
- FortiGate Private Cloud
- Hardening your FortiGate
- FortiGate / FortiOS 7.0.0 Best Practices
- FortiGate / FortiOS
- Single FortiGate-VM Deployment
- Launching FortiGate on Azure
- GitHub FortiGate Azure templates.
- FortiGate Azure datasheet.
- Tehnical Tip: Installing and configuring FortiGate Autoscale for Azure.
- Technical Tip: Resizing an Azure FortiGate VM instance
- Upload VHD
- Deployment Guide
- Datasheet - FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for Azure
- FortiOS Handbook
- ARM and Terraform template on GitHub
- Register your license
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